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I got a new job! Kind of in a rush, all of a sudden, totally overwhelming excitement!

So yesterday I was feeling completely bogged down trying to wrap up things at the old jobs and get started at the new job and I decided the solution was cupcakes. Delicious shortcake cupcakes with Nutella frosting. I mean really, what’s better than Nutella? Plus cupcakes were the perfect thing to take to work today as a “Thank you” and “Don’t hate me” ’cause I’m leaving with less than two weeks notice…

First the cupcakes. Start by beating the eggs for 4ish minutes on medium until yellow and fluffy.

Next, add the sugar and beat for another 4 minutes.

In the meantime you get all the dry ingredients ready. I got to use my new sifter! I’ve never had a sifter! It’s kind of fun!

The sifter definitely made a difference in the fineness of the flour.

You also have to work on melting the butter, adding the milk, and warming it to “lukewarm” temperature. I’m not entirely sure how to measure “lukewarm” temperature but I just stuck my pinkie in and hoped it didn’t burn me.

Then, you add the dry ingredients to the egg/sugar mixture, followed by the butter/milk mixture.

Divide the batter into the muffin tins. The recipe said the batter would be “fairly runny” and it really was. Then, bake!

Let the cupcakes cool. While that happens, make the frosting. First, blend the butter and powdered sugar.

Add the Nutella.

I always hate adding things like peanut butter to recipes because all of this stuff is left over in the measuring cup but with the Nutella I didn’t mind. I just licked the measuring cup.

Something I’ve found now that I’m cooking and baking more is that there are about a million kitchen gadets that I just “have to have.” One of which is a pastry bag and tip. But I haven’t quite gotten around to getting one, or convincing myself that it’s really a “need”. Still, though, I want to make those beautiful and enticingly deliciously decorated cupcakes I see in other blogs. My solution? Frosting in a bag. So, I stuffed the bag into a large cup to help the transfer of the frosting from the bowl, tied it off, and then cut off just a tip of the bag. It worked pretty well.

But then my cupcakes looked like they had little turds on top. (Haha, poos – clearly its time to move on from the 6th graders I have been teaching…)

To try and negate that image I added chocolate chips. I think it worked. Plus, the cupcake I had was amazing!! A perfect distraction from a little stress.

Shortcake Cupcakes with Nutella Buttercream Frosting

The original frosting recipe was found at Kitchen Treaty here, which also links to the original cupcake recipe.